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INTEL: Affordable fashions, a PR gaffe and mobile shopping increases

INTEL: Affordable fashions, a PR gaffe and mobile shopping increases

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By LAURA CARROLLLAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS

Las Vegas will be home to a new, affordable retail chain this week.

Melrose Family Fashion is slated to open at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 26 at 2335 E. Lake Mead Blvd. This is the first of several planned Melrose shops in the Las Vegas Valley. The chain specializes in fashions for the entire family: girls, juniors, contemporary, plus sizes, men, boys and shoes, with a focus on the Hispanic family.

A second store is scheduled to open Nov. 22 at 4600 Meadows Lane. Melrose specializes in non-branded apparel that emulates the styles of major fashion labels. The company operates more than 100 stores throughout Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

The NAB Show, staged by the National Assocaition of Broadcasters, is accepting applications from startup companies to participate in Sprockit 2014.

The program showcases emerging companies in media and entertainment and introduces them to industry influencers and decision-makers. Sprockit is a year-round program that will kick off at the 2014 NAB Show, to be held April 5-10, with 90,000 attendees.

The program, created to give game-changing entrepreneurs broad exposure through NAB Show, will select up to 30 startups to participate in the weeklong series of events. The selected startup companies will have intimate access to top executives in media and entertainment, the opportunity to pre-schedule private meetings with industry influencers, and time to present their product or service to potential customers, partners or investors.

To become part of the Sprockit 2014, a company must have market validation and must prove the potential to significantly impact the media and entertainment industry. Interested companies must submit an online application by Nov. 22. To get more information or apply for the program, visit www.sprockitglory.com.

If you’re a public relations “professional,” make sure not to send your interoffice notes to a news outlet — especially if they’re about said news outlet.

While prepping for a convention recently, the agency contracted to handle public relations for the show emailed a few expo statistics to the asking reporter. Included with this information was a rare treat: notes between two PR reps about how to present the statistics. Included were gems such as one asking the other if they release attendance numbers beforehand. Then the prized response “We try not to, just because if our numbers are awful, we want to be able to say that we have a policy that precludes us from (releasing) our numbers.”

Oh, and if you classify as a “tiny” publication, which to be fair she didn’t say the pub in question was, don’t expect great answers from the PR reps. “OK” answers, but not “great.”

Visa recently released findings from its survey, “The Way We Pay,” which explored consumer attitude toward online shopping and the progression toward mobile shopping and digital wallets.

The survey found 27 percent of smartphone users and 24 percent of tablet owners have used their mobile device to make a purchase in the past year. Also, the mobile-payments market is expected to grow by 31 percent this year to $235.4 billion.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents said digital wallets already have, will or may replace a physical wallet in the next five years.

Forty-three percent said it will never happen. On average, 40 percent of respondents carry less than $20 in their wallet.

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